How can Google Maps and Hyperlapse help to attract (and retain) customers?

In a world of screens in multiple formats, visual aspects sell. In addition, if you provide more information in less time, your customers will appreciate it. What is this and what are we talking about? The answer is Hyperlapse. Continue reading to find out much more…

In our last post about Google Maps, we focused on how interesting it would be to use the functions offered by the leading search service to include geolocation in our analysis of corporate data, by using Business Intelligence tools in the new generation of scorecards, which are much more attractive and visual than ever.

We also mentioned our expertise in solutions based on the generation of own maps supported by Google Maps; however, on this occasion we shall be speaking of a technology with which you may be familiar but not precisely by its true name: Hyperlapse. This is the evolution of a rather frequently-used photographic technique called “Time-Lapse” that consists in combining photographs that were taken over a specific period of time, with the idea of producing a fast motion video. It is like speeding up a video, but where it is clear (without any attempt to disguise the fact) that they are consecutive photographs stuck together. However, Hyperlapse is a collection of images taken directly by the Google Street View API, which simulate a trip or movement. More automated if possible.

Without trying to avoid any playful or fun connotations to which this technology could be applied (any accelerated video of a particular situation may in itself be fun simply due to the increase in speed), at Intelligence Partner we are convinced of its attractiveness for business uses as well. For two simple reasons: visual aspects sell, and if you provide your current or potential customers with more information in less time (and to the point), they will clearly be thankful.

How can Hyperlapse be used in your business? By increasing visits to your website and promoting loyalty through providing content that is “different”. If people like it, they will perhaps share it on social networks… In short, it is a way of giving the wheels of marketing a little push. Implementation depends on your industrial sector… If you belong to the retail sector, once a customer displays interest in a particular product, you can attract him to your sales outlet by cross-referencing availability data. In the case of a museum, you can build an accelerated tour that takes in the most significant elements that you consider of interest to attract more visitors. What about a tourist facility, a theme park or a leisure park? And what could it contribute to the Horeca sector, for example, to a chain of restaurants? Its use is only limited by imagination. Let’s see a practical example and you will understand everything at once…

One of our real cases involved a well-known car maker, whose website offered a service to locate its dealershipswhere new cars could be bought and also to show its official repair workshops. Well, customers could provide their current locations, select a destination from the available list offered by the car maker, and once the point of origin and the destination had been entered, watch an accelerated video on how to reach that destination.

We are talking about something very special: composing and submitting videos on the go and in real time, because as Intelligence Partner is the only premium partner of Google Maps for Work in Spain, we know how to maximize the Google Maps APIs and its route engine, which will suggest the best route whether you are driving, walking or cycling.

It is not only about preparing a static video (video editing companies can do that and they do a great job), but about preparing videos on the fly, custom-made for each client. And you can achieve this from within your own website.

An attractive idea, isn’t it? If you think you can apply this idea to your business and make your website even more attractive than before, why not give us a call and we can talk about it?